If the Milwaukee Bucks didn't have the attention of the Atlanta Hawks previously, maybe they do now.

"Well, we hope so," said Bucks center Kurt Thomas, who contributed nine points and nine rebounds to the Bucks 111-104 victory over the Hawks Monday night at the Bradley Center that evened their best-of-seven playoff series at two games each. "You have to give Atlanta a lot of credit. They took care of their business on their home court and we knew our backs were against the wall, but we came home and we had our fans behind us and we did what we had to do to tie this series."

What the Bucks did was shoot a blistering 55.1% and outscore Atlanta in the paint, 44-26, in holding off every charge the Hawks threw at them.

Game 5 of the series will be played Wednesday night in Atlanta with Game 6 at the Bradley Center Friday.

"We really shared the ball with each other and were spacing the floor well," said Thomas. "Whenever we feel like we have an advantage, we're going at it. And we're just playing good solid defense, we're covering for each other and we're rebounding the ball."

Said guard Luke Ridnour, "Everyone's stepping up and doing a little bit more. For us to win this series, everyone has to play well and contribute without Andrew (Bogut) and so far we've been able to do that."

G-force

The Bucks got a huge lift off the bench from center Dan Gadzuric, who had seven points and five rebounds in 16 minutes. Late in the first half, he came up with a big block on a shot by Joe Johnson and made a layup to help the Bucks to a 54-50 halftime lead.

"It felt good," said Gadzuric. "I just came out and did what I needed to do. I just had a lot of energy and . . . I don't know,"

His teammates knew.

"Danny has been awesome," said Thomas. "He's coming in with a lot of energy, rebounding the ball, running the floor, and blocking shots. He doing everything we could ask of him. We need him to continue that because we need that lift off the bench."

Flip-flop

Thomas came up with one of the big plays late in the game when he set a screen on Mike Bibby and drew an offensive foul on the Hawks' point guard. And, amazingly enough, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound Bibby hit the 6-9, 230-pound Thomas with such "force" that Thomas fell right back on his posterior.

"I think he just kind of caught me off balance," said Thomas, smiling knowingly. "I was just trying to hold my ground. But yeah, I guess he's been in the weight room a little bit. I'm just out there playing and trying to do what I can do to help my team get the ball back."

Paint points

Even without injured center Bogut, the Bucks dominated in the paint. "We did a good job moving the ball," said forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. "A lot of time our guards, whenever they were switching, were driving the ball and kicking it to somebody else right at the basket. So when ever they would drive, somebody would cut and get an easy layup. Easy points like that really helped us out."

Ticket information

Tickets for Game 6 of the series Friday at the Bradley Center will be on sale Tuesday at the Bradley Center ticket office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or by calling 1-800-4NBA-TIX from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets are also available at Ticketmaster outlets.

Scary incident

Prior to Monday's game, Hawks coach Mike Woodson discussed the accident that occurred early in the afternoon when a car carrying a mother and her child collided with the Atlanta team bus a short distance from the Bradley Center as it was leaving shoot-around to return to the team hotel.

"She was lucky," said Woodson. "Obviously her brakes went out, that's what I hear, and she couldn't stop. She turned the corner and ran right into the bus.

"I jumped out and ran over to the car and I opened the door and the little kid had climbed out of the car seat and there was smoke coming from the airbag, so I grabbed the kid and got her out."

Woodson said that many of the Hawks seated near the back of the bus hadn't been aware of what had occurred..

"Some of the guys were in the back and they probably didn't see it coming," said Woodson, "But in the front, we could see that she had lost control. The (Hawks players) got off the bus and saw the damages and we got them back to the hotel (by taxi)."